Nitasha Tiku

So you're Google, out there looking to the future, tryna extend the human life span, map every corner of land and sea, generally moon shot-ing all OVER the goddam place. Why bother trying to sell self-driving software to old school auto-makers when you could just design a car yourself?

In recent months, Google has held talks with contract manufacturers to build new cars to Google’s specifications, said the people familiar with the matter. The move came after Google’s talks with big car brands about incorporating its technology into their vehicles failed to yield a partnership, one of these people said.

Google also has a novel idea for what it could do with these cars. The company has considered ways to sell self-driving vehicles to individuals. But it also has focused on the potential for an autonomous car it designs to become part of “robo-taxi” services that pick up passengers on demand, these people said. Whether Google would try to operate such services on its own is unclear.

Just imagine tooling around Google Island in one of those things for the rest of your immortal life.